Well Forrest and I have been in Costa Rica for about a week now and we have had a set back.
We met up with our i-to-i contact and the rest of the group and headed out to Guandaca on the Carribbean Coast. It was a six hour mini-bus ride there because of the washouts in the road, etc.
It is quite literally at the end of Costa Rica on the Panama border. When we got there we were quite literally in the middle of the jungle and surrounding that was a swamp and surrounding that endless banana plantations. the host family we were assigned to were personal friends of the i-to-i coordinator. a wonderful family, who were very accomodating and helpful and just lovely.
the "village" itself was at the end of a long road and was made up of a settlement of a few houses (no less than 50 people including scientific station staff) there was a bar, a restaurant, a small store and most of the inhabitants opened their homes for homestays. the residences were not fancy but very comfortable and clean.
at night we heard the sounds of the jungle, mostly monkeys (howlers) and owls and other strange noises. we went to visit the beach and saw where the turtles come ashore. we even got a short walk to the research station and along the way saw a really LARGE and LONG something moving along a path. on closer inspection it was a "column" of army ants moving their nest. the column had to be eight inches wide and stretched in front and behind as far as the eye could see. they were carrying the eggs, larvae, and pupae. they didnt seem to bothered by our observations. up further along the trail we saw columns of leaf-cutter ants carrying what else but cut up leaves. in addition there were lots of birds and howler monkeys and squirrel monkeys (making noise and throwing things at us) to ward us off. it was mostly half eaten fruit but a few members got hit with, well, lets just say it used to be fruit.
at night the the mosquitos came out. and that is when forrest and irealized just how close we were to the swamp. we had all our shots and meds but no netting, or deet could repel them. and we learned on arrival that we were not allowed to wear deet on our night patrols because of disturbing the turtles and preventing them from coming up on the beach.
the next day, utterly miserable (we had been eaten alive in honduras and had little patience left) so we talked to the coordinator and decided it was in our best interest to back out. she understood and got us in the next taxi out of Guandaca.
the taxi was very interesting. we got picked up in a van that ran up and down the single road. it picked up EVERYONE on the road. in the end our taxi that comfortably seats 10, held 18 people. im not exagerating. and those of you who know me and forrest know we had our luggage in there too.
we eventually got to the next biggest town and got on a bus to San Jose. it was another six hour ride. since then we have been enjoying San Jose. the people are very nice. we have booked a week long stay on the Pacific Coast, which is supposed to be beautiful. when we return from there we will be heading home after a short stay in LA for me to do some business with the British Embassy before coming home.
We are disappointed about not seeing and working with the leatherbacks but we think it was the right choice.
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